Crime & Punishment Read Online Free

Brian.  Did you call about an electrical problem?” he asked with a charming smile.
     
    “A what?” she said, her mind not working quite right after that smile.  She stared into his light green eyes and idly wondered what it would be like to run her fingers over those large muscles.
     
    “Your electric,” he asked simply, with a confident grin, “is it broken?”
     
    Suddenly Megan felt incredibly foolish as she realized how she had been staring.  She wondered what had come over her.  She gathered herself together and opened the door wider.
     
    “Yes, of course, my electric,” she stumbled, “the problem is outside,” she said as she pointed to the back door.
     
    He smiled again, and Megan nearly melted.  When he walked through the house Megan couldn’t help watching him.  He body was all strength and sinew.  She found herself wondering if all of him would be that big and hard and then caught herself.
     
    She led him outside to where the air conditioning system was sitting and he looked it over quickly.
     
    “Wow, who did this?” he asked with genuine surprise.
     
    “I had a guy hook up the AC yesterday.”
     
    “Well, if you have his license number, he could probably be thrown into jail for this.”
     
    Megan smiled weakly.  “Well, no, he was just a friend.”
     
    He continued to stare at the mess “and why did he pull the wires out of the wall?”
     
    “Well,” she added her cheeks flushing, “I actually did that part this morning when I was trying to fix it.”
     
    He looked at her and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”
     
    “What do you mean?” she asked with surprise.
     
     “The thing is, I’m not supposed to touch a problem this bad.  Electrical work of this magnitude requires a permit from the city. But after that you can probably get it done for under a couple thousand dollars.”
     
    She was still thinking of how long it would take to get a permit when she realized what he’d just said. “Wait, a couple thousand dollars?”
     
    He raised his eyebrows and pointed to the exposed wires. “These wires aren’t even rated to carry this much current and will need to be completely redone. If your guy used that grade wire here, I’ll need to re-check the entire house and that isn’t cheap. When people cut corners like this, people can die. To be honest, I’ve done electrical work for years and I have never seen a mess this bad.”
     
    Megan was overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem.  She leaned back against the wall of her house, slid down to the ground and put her head in her hands.  She was out of money, she was out of credit and her house was about to spontaneously combust.
     
    “Isn’t there anything you can do?” she asked looking up at him, “I just don’t have that kind of money. Is a permit really necessary?”
     
    “Look, I would love to help out, but, I could lose my license,” he said seriously, looking down at her.
     
    Tears began forming in her eyes and she looked away.  “What am I supposed to do?” she asked, more to herself than to him.  The silence hung between them.
     
    “Sometimes you need to be creative,” he said pointedly.
     
    “What do you mean?” she asked, looking up with hope in her eyes.  
     
    “Just how much do you want my help?” he asked suggestively, his thumb casually resting inside the waist of his jeans.
     
    She felt a surge of hope and looked up at him.
     
    “Well, I don’t suppose anyone could blame me if I helped out a close friend” he said.
     
    Megan looked at him in confusion but suddenly realized what he meant. Butterflies ran through her stomach and her mouth dropped open.
     
    “No, I can’t,” she started and corrected herself, “I mean, I won’t,” she said more firmly.
     
    “No problem.  Just trying to find a way to help,” he said simply and he turned away and started to collect his things.  “Remember to shut off the electric as soon as possible before